July 20 (Reuters) - UBM Plc said finance boss RobertGray would become chief executive of PR Newswire, its serviceused by companies to publish announcements for clients.
Gray, who joined the events and communications company'sboard in 2009, will step down as CFO and director to assume thelead role at PR Newswire on Aug. 1, the company said.
Gray succeeds Ninan Chacko, who will leave PR Newswire topursue other opportunities after six years at the helm.
Reuters reported in April that UBM was exploring a sale ofthe service, in a deal that could value the distributor of pressreleases at more than $700 million, according to people familiarwith the matter.
New York-based PR Newswire distributes corporateannouncements via news agencies such as Thomson Reuters Corp and other digital platforms. For years it has been seenby analysts as non-core to UBM's main franchise of organisingtrade events such as the world's largest fashion convention. (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing byAnupama Dwivedi)